Presentation - Feb. 5/09

I thought the concept of e-waste explored by the group was very interesting. They did a great job on the presentation covering a lot of the important points and succinctly discussing their chosen topic. I found the article they chose to be interesting and constant with their topic, which was great. But the part that I really enjoyed was their video. I was a little unsure at first just how directly it would tie in with their topic, but it was beautifully shot, with haunting photos that really put a great visual display on what our actions mean to individuals around the world. It is so difficult to think about concepts like e-waste in real terms because garbage disposal is an unsightly problem and therefore one that receives very little media attention, the pictures of the little girls climbing on top of the piles and piles of wires and technological waste as well as the old woman sitting on her porch surrounded by the same materials are images that really made the issue real for me. It was an interesting perspective to look at this issue on a global scale, we are the creators of the waste yet we are (for the biggest part) totally unaware that we take no responsible for cleaning it up, rather we just dump it somewhere else with less stringent laws. The technology industry keeps growing in leaps and bounds, constantly encouraging up to buy the best, the fastest, and the latest products. It is important for us to learn where this drive for consumerism always end up – the dump, though its not always our own.